I mentioned earlier in this series how heartbreaking it can be to watch a variegated succulent slowly revert to solid green, and propagation is really where that heartbreak most often begins. It’s one thing to grow a stable, established variegated plant carefully enough to preserve its pattern. It’s a considerably trickier thing to take that … Read more
There’s a particular kind of anxiety that sets in during the first few weeks after taking a cutting from a genuinely rare, hard-to-replace plant, checking almost daily for some sign that the process is actually working. I understand that impulse well, because I’ve felt it plenty of times myself, hovering over a tray of leaves … Read more
My “nursery” started as a single shelf by a window, then became a folding table in a spare corner, and eventually turned into a dedicated setup that now takes up a genuinely embarrassing amount of space in what used to be a guest room. I didn’t plan any of this deliberately, and looking back, I … Read more
A few years ago, a friend deep into the collector scene mentioned she’d bought a “lab-grown” Haworthia, and I remember being a little skeptical about what that actually meant for the plant’s quality and character. Since then, I’ve watched tissue culture shift from a slightly niche, somewhat mysterious topic in collector circles to something increasingly … Read more
My first successful graft happened almost by accident, a crested Euphorbia cutting I’d been given that was clearly too delicate, too slow, and too chlorophyll-poor to survive well on its own roots. A more experienced grower talked me through grafting it onto a sturdier rootstock, and watching that fragile, unpromising piece of tissue transform into … Read more
Looking back at the rare cuttings I’ve lost over the years, almost none of them died from some exotic, hard-to-predict cause. They died from a handful of the same basic mistakes, repeated in slightly different forms, usually driven by impatience or by applying advice meant for common, forgiving succulents to plants that simply don’t tolerate … Read more
Somebody asked me once how long it would take before their newly sown Ariocarpus seeds would look like the mature specimen in the photo that had convinced them to try growing one from scratch. I remember doing some quick mental math and then deciding it was kinder to just say “years” rather than giving an … Read more
I’ll admit my first attempt at hand-pollinating succulents felt a little absurd, crouched over a tray of Echeverias with a small paintbrush, dabbing at flowers that seemed almost too small for the task. It didn’t work, not that first year anyway. But watching a genuinely successful cross develop months later, from that first careful transfer … Read more
A question that comes up constantly in collector groups goes something like this: “I have a rare Echeveria that’s finally offsetting, should I remove the pup or take a few leaves instead?” It’s a genuinely good question, and the honest answer is that it depends on more factors than most quick online answers account for. … Read more
I still remember the sinking feeling of watching a leaf I’d taken from a genuinely expensive Echeveria simply shrivel up and turn black over the course of two weeks, having done everything I thought was right. It took some honest reflection, and a fair amount of reading afterward, to realize that propagating rare succulents isn’t … Read more